The Human Rights Campaign expressed strong disappointment
in the Fiscal Year 2004 funding for HIV/AIDS prevention programs as
passed Jan. 22, 2004. We call upon President Bush to restore funding for
adequate prevention resources as he prepares to release his FY 2005
budget next week(2/2), says HRC.
"To cut funding for HIV/AIDS prevention when we know the only cure is
prevention shows a serious misunderstanding of how to protect Americans
from this disease," said HRC President Cheryl Jacques. "With roughly
40,000 new HIV infections occurring annually in the United States,
funding cuts to HIV prevention programs will have a serious effect on
the nation and on our community in particular."
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report
released in July 2003, HIV infections among gay and bisexual men rose
7.1 percent from 2001 to 2002. HIV diagnoses for gay and bisexual men
have increased by 17.7 percent since the lowest point in 1999. In its
strategic plan, the CDC recognizes that homophobia adversely impacts
prevention efforts. Consequently, it identifies the need to develop and
implement HIV-prevention programs for gay and bisexual men, particularly
within communities of color. Congress and the administration should
follow the CDC's recommendations, says HRC.
"Clearly our community is one of the communities that HIV/AIDS is
disproportionately impacting. Instead of increasing funding for
prevention programs, President Bush said in his State of the Union that
he will focus taxpayers' dollars on unprecedented funding for
abstinence-only programs – programs proven time and again to be
ineffective when they stand alone," added Jacques. "The only way
abstinence-only programs can work is if they are instituted as part of a
comprehensive prevention strategy. We urge the President and Congress to
appropriately fund all federal HIV/AIDS programs, including prevention
at the CDC, research at the National Institutes of Health and care
through the Ryan White CARE Act."
The $820 billion spending package contained a $4.1 million decrease in
the CDC's funding for HIV prevention and surveillance, as well as a
$500,000 decrease in funding for the CDC's STD prevention projects. The
2004 District of Columbia appropriations bill – also part of the Omnibus
legislation – also included language prohibiting local and federal funds
from being used for needle exchange programs.
"From cutting funds for HIV/AIDS prevention to prohibiting dollars for
needle exchange programs, this package fails to heed the advice of the
government's own scientists," said Jacques. "It's time for our
tax-paying dollars to be spent on proven methods of prevention."
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